Dreams Do Come True ~ Now Off to North Carolina!!

I have been wanting to post this for a while now but we had to make sure all of our ducks were in a row before we let the world know what's going on...

JOSH GOT HIS DREAM JOB AS DIRECTOR OF FINANCE FOR UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA!!!!!   (Go Tarheels!)

Those of you who are close to us know how hard he has worked and how long we have waited for this amazing opportunity to arrive! (Now here's where I do some  bragging...) My talented, extraordinary, dedicated, and persistent husband has been working for the University of Phoenix for the past three years, biding his time and learning the trade of finance in higher education so that some day he could take over a University (we weren't sure which one at the time but did plenty of dreaming) and be their Director of Finance. Other Universities in various states had previously made offers but it just never felt right. There was always something wrong that made it a deal-breaker. The hard part was trusting our instincts, being persistent, and continuing to apply and interview without getting discouraged and feeling like the perfect job was never going to come. And then September came....We had our Mediterranean Cruise all planned out and ready to go. We both scheduled two weeks off from work and were counting down the days til the middle of September when we could travel around Europe and experience new cultures and all the fun that comes along with that. Then the University of North Carolina called.... they wanted to interview Josh right when we were supposed to be leaving on our cruise :(. So we had some big decisions to make and finally concluded that we should put a hold on our trip and  make UNC the new plan B. So off we went to North Carolina (I got to go too!) for Josh's interview and to explore the area. Basically after a few days of our vacation we concluded that we absolutely love it there and were dying to hear back from the hiring manager as to whether Josh had made it to the final round of interviews or not.

Waiting is always the hardest part and I didn't want to waste the two weeks I had off from work just sitting around the house waiting. So I decided to go see my family! Josh decided to tell his boss he wouldn't be going on vacation anymore and head back to work, so he didn't go with me. That wasn't an option for me since another nurse had already been scheduled to fill my position so I took full advantage of my time off! I spent a week in Nevada visiting friends and family and loving every second of it!! I will write another post on that later.

While I was in Nevada Josh got the phone call we had been waiting for! He was selected as the candidate for the position!!! I was so ecstatic that I immediately started crying as soon as I hung up the phone. I was hoping that when he got the call I would be there with him so I could jump into his arms and give him a million kisses and then later that night go out and celebrate. But life is funny that way, things always work out with a twist. So I celebrated with my friends and family and Josh did the same in Salt Lake City with his family. Rest assured though, when I got back into Utah, we did plenty of celebrating which started with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory! Now we are focused on planning out the move. It is still so weird to think that we will be living on the South/East Coast very soon. But we couldn't be more excited!!! I am so proud of Josh and what an amazing example he is. All I can say is God has truly blessed us. That about sums up everything.

The buildings were so exquisite. The campus felt like we were in the
old south surrounded by massive plantations!

The inside was even more gorgeous than the outside!
This room was full of old Rembrandt portraits.

Josh goofing off (as usual) before his interview

The gorgeous gazebo in the center of campus

BYU vs UTAH 2012

Josh's Mom and Step-Dad came home from their mission last week so Josh's whole family came to visit. It worked out perfectly that the big BYU/UTAH game was the same weekend! Half the family was in red and the other half was in blue. That made the game even more fun to watch, especially since Utah won (hehe). 

Hanging out with Jaxson (our nephew/cougar fan)

That's another win for Utah!!!

The LaFeber boys in their element. It was so funny watching how animated they all got during the game!! Especially at the end when they had to push the Utah fans off the field 3 times to give BYU more chances to put the game into overtime....luckily their kickers suck ;).

The night was beautiful and the company was great...... Life is pretty dang good. 

The Rest of Summer

I can honestly say this has been one of the best summers of my life! We had a list of all the stuff we wanted to do throughout the summer, and although we didn't accomplish all of it, we had fun doing what we had time for!

Josh and I went to Capitol Theatre and saw WICKED! It was such a funny, entertaining musical that we would love to see again. 

Josh and my step-dad Nathan went to the IRON MAIDEN concert at the Usana Ampitheater. That type of music is too extreme for me so I went out to dinner with them at Pat's BBQ and then left them to their own demise. 

(Pat Benatar)

  

(Journey)

We went out to dinner with some friends and then spent a beautiful summer night out at USANA watching JOURNEY, PAT BENATAR, AND LOVER BOY!! This concert was a blast and full of so many classics!

And of course, Vegas! We stayed at the Luxor and Treasure Island this time. Both were unique and fun in their own way. The Luxor is so cool on the inside, we had fun just wandering around looking at all the Egyptian stuff. At Treasure Island we got to stay in the honeymoon suite! We each got our own massive bathrooms with a big jacuzzi bathtub and free chocolate covered strawberries sent up by room service! 

We took a trip up to Bear Lake at the end of August to celebrate the end of summer. We stayed in a beautiful Inn not far from the lake for a couple of days and spent the whole time swimming and playing on a Waverunner in the lake, taking morning strolls along trails in the morning, eating really yummy outdoors breakfasts on the patio when we woke up and sitting by the fire outside in the night with the tiki lamps flickering in the gentle wind before we went to bed, overdosing on raspberry shakes (the Bear Lake claim to fame), and experiencing the amazing Maddox restaurant on our way through Logan (my first time!). 

Well, that about sums up summer 2012. Now bring on fall!!!

So Far This Summer

So far this summer has been a very busy one full of fun adventures and vacations and I don't really know where to begin. Let's start with June. 

BEGINNING OF JUNE

We celebrated our 2 year anniversary in the Las Vegas sun. It was so much fun and we were both so sad to have to come home. First we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and spent the days swimming, shopping, and doing a little gambling (don't worry, our idea of gambling is spending 20 dollars and calling it a day) and we both ended up winning more money than we spent! 

We got to see the Phantom of the Opera while we were there and it was incredible! I love the music so much and I loved it even more while hearing it in a beautiful opera theater! Afterwards we went to a little french pastry stand at the Venetian and bought mini-cupcakes as our anniversary dessert. It was a perfect night :).

We spent the second half of our anniversary vacation at the beautiful Bellagio Hotel. It was much more luxurious than the Hard Rock and didn't have the "party scene" going on constantly.

Our room was gorgeous and so was the view from our window! 

We spent a lot of time walking around and exploring the strip. The weather was hot (go figure huh?) so we took advantage of the shade whenever we could find it and spent a lot of time exploring the shops and things inside the casinos. The Bellagio garden was beautiful and so creative! Everything was made out of flowers!

We walked to the Coke Factory and sampled all the different Cokes from around the world. It was really fun. We couldn't believe how disgusting some of them were (ahem, Italy) and decided that we were glad to live in America.



MIDDLE OF JUNE
Josh and I saw the Poison/Def Leppard "Rock of Ages Tour" Concert and it was literally a blast from the past! They just don't make music like that anymore. And although the music was great, the people watching was even better! Gotta love the '80's crazies.

 

END OF JUNE
My little sister Briana came to stay with us for a few weeks! I was so excited to pick her up and so sad to have to drop her off :(. I took a little over a week off from work and spent the days with her. It was so fun having someone to exercise with (until she decided that I was too serious about it and didn't want to go with me anymore) and enjoy "girl talk" with.

We went to a SLC Bee's baseball game the first day she was here. 

We also went glow in the dark mini-golfing, bowling, and played the arcade games at Fat Cat's. 

We got a deal that included free bread twists and a pitcher of soda from the Pizza Factory with our bowling! It was time well spent and although Josh beat us at everything, we all did pretty good ;).

Briana turned 15 while she was visiting us! We spent the day shopping and doing "girl stuff" and then later that night had a BBQ, and cake. Happy Birthday Bri!

 

 

We went to a lazer show at the Clark Planetarium. It was so cool! They played music from U2 that went along with the lazers. Walking around the Planetarium was just as much fun and we got to try space ice cream for the first time....it was not bad at all. 

I think my favorite part of her stay with us was when she and I had a picnic at Memory Park and walked through the rose gardens and played in the stream. 

Then we went up to the State Capitol building and explored. 

It was so gorgeous inside! Briana decided that's where she wants to do her Bridals when she grows up ;)

JULY

For the 4th of July we went to Park City and watched the parade. Then we had a BBQ on the balcony and later went to the movie theater and saw Rock of Ages. It was a great day!

As you can see, I'm the only one in the family with enough patriotic spirit to wear red, white, and blue ;)

I could write a whole novel about all the details of everything we've done so far this summer but this will just have to suffice. I feel so lucky to have such amazing sisters and an even more amazing husband who doesn't mind being the only guy when he hangs out with us!

Seriously???

So, at work we have to keep up on our "education" and each month is a different topic. Well, this month's topic is "What to do if there is a bomb threat." I proceed go through the long list of boring slides until I reach the part where you take a quiz to make sure you understand what you have just "learned."

The question read: You answer the phone while working and the caller tells you they have planted a bomb in your clinic. What do you do?

Seriously? I would do what any other non-retarded person would do..... Tell the person, "Thanks Jerk for ruining my day" and then proceed to get all 50 of my patients the heck out of there!

Well, I failed. That's right, failed with a big, fat, F. And why did I fail you ask? Because I forgot to ask the caller the following questions:

1) What is your name? (Or should I just call you psycho bomb threat guy?)

2) Where do you live? (Just in case the police might want to find you and arrest you)

3) Why are you doing this? (I'm sure you never knew your father, but just in case there is another reason behind your idiocracy)

4) And last but not least, Where did you place the bomb? (REALLY???)

And of course the caller is going to answer all of my questions and give me all of his personal information. Heck, maybe I'll even get a chance to try out some psychology classes I've never actually used.

Again I ask, SERIOUSLY???